Bolt Deliveries. Remember range anxiety?
We're seeing even worse now. At least that tried to sell you something
you really didn't need. What does Bolt bring to the effort of
replacing traditional vehicles quickly? A online friend of mine put it
this way: "Which part of bovine fecal matter applies?" He
sees the inability to deliver something able to be sold in high-volumes for
a profit. It's all show. True, the technology should work fine.
But what's the point if so few are built & purchased? My joining of
the topic was with: I had to deal with a tremendous amount of that when pointing out how Volt was
following in the path of Two-Mode. The pattern was remarkable too. This
repeat chase-the-halo episode is worse though, since there's a such a heavy
dependency on tax-credits. The consequence will be stifled availability
followed by an abrupt loss of interest. It's a disaster in the making, even
without taking into consideration the other choices that will be available.
We can see the strides Nissan & BMW will be making, with some odd "me too"
effort on VW's part. That will add a lot of pressure to GM's growing
struggle to capture the interest of their own customers. With respect to
Tesla, how can there be any comparison? The difference between Model 3 and
Bolt is obvious. They clearly aren't targeted at the same audience. As for
Ford, who knows. We could see interesting things from Chrysler though.
That brings us to Toyota. The potential Prius Prime offers for winning
hearts of showroom shoppers is profound. The effort to transform the hybrid
we've grown quite attached to very real competition with traditional choices
is becoming difficult to dispute. It's come down to the basics. You don't
have to do anything other than plug it in to get absolutely outstanding
results. The interface is elegantly simple. There's nothing to learn and
nothing to set up. It's a "just drive it" design with realistically
profitable configuration. That's why looking at Bolt makes you wonder.
GM expended quite a bit to deliver maximum range, making sacrifices
resembling sales problems of the past. Why was the formula for achieving
something able to compete on the showroom floor so carelessly abandoned?

12-14-2016

The Trap. Far too often, something is posted online
to mislead or undermine. That certainly was happening today.
This post speaks for itself:
Determining "compliance" is a red-herring, an undermining distraction from
the goal of traditional vehicle replacement. It's a trap far too many fall
into. Achieving minimum mainstream demand levels (5,000 per month
without tax-credits) is far more difficult than initial low-hanging fruit
sales. In other words, don't get hung up in greenwash labels. Stay
focused on the effort to reach ordinary consumers. Their purchase interest
is vital... that means actually being able to compete with vehicles they
share the showroom floor with.

12-14-2016

Seeing What You Want. The choice for you or I means
little on its own. Do other share the same sentiment, priorities,
interest? Sometimes, asking those questions provides a surprising
answer, like: "I bought the car I wanted to drive." It's not often to get a
confession of that matter. Purchases based upon want, rather than
need, are good to know about. It's not wrong to fulfill desire, but
please don't misrepresent that as it being what everyone else does too.
They don't. A large chunk of the population simply cannot affort that.
This is why I asked "Who?" so often. Being aware of such
fundamental differences in reason for buying is a very big deal. It's
also quite frustrating when having to deal with someone who isn't.
They see what they want. Today, I dealt with it this way: That is the
very reason why you have yet to understand who the market is. Want is for
enthusiasts only. Need is what everyone else makes decisions upon.
This is why the common SUV keeps getting smaller and hybrid options are
beginning to be offered. This is also the competition-with-traditional
options... like Prime... possess the potential for real change. Say
what you want. There is now 6 years of sales confirming great buys for
those enthusiasts but little to draw interest of ordinary consumers. We
have overwhelmingly seen disregard & dismissal from the mainstream.
Face the facts. Overcoming the status quo takes far more than what you
want.

12-13-2016

Delivery Wait.
You wonder how long it will take for me to actually be until I take delivery
of my Prius Prime? I expect there to be a wait of a few weeks still.
It just doesn't seem realistic for such a new approach to be established so
quickly. Think about that fleet model. Seeing that Toyota is
delivering some to dealers with the "not for sale" notice is a
clear indication of intent to educate. Much needs to be done for all
involved to learn what needs to be taught. That requires hands-on
experience. You have to drive the vehicle a number of times to even
begin to figure out what questions need to be asked. Finding the
answers then takes awhile. You want to ensure the information is
correct too. There far to much opportunity for misconceptions to
emerge. After all, why study something that will remain limited
inventory for perhaps years, especially with the profit-margin so small.
From a sales perspective, you'll make much more commission from the wide
assortment of vehicles available on the lot instead. After all, demand
for plugging in is a big unknown and gas is still cheap. Understanding
the technology is key. Batteries have proven to be robust. How
they actually work though isn't common knowledge yet. That's why I
have a growing expectation of wait. Spring will be here soon enough.
By then, I would have been driving the Prime and collected lots of
real-world data to share. In the meantime, that education at dealers
is taking place. It's still a challenge to be patient though, despite
it being totally worth it.

12-12-2016

Heater Improvements. Some people just plain don't
know what has been done and what could be done. That uncertainty of
audience in a public forum makes it difficult to know how to respond to
posts too. Fortunately, there are a few who ask questions, like:
"What sort of things would Toyota have done to conserve the heat?"
It's nice to encounter such open-mindedness. Far too often, people
draw conclusions based on anecdotal observation or just make wild
assumptions. Getting that on a regular basis makes threads a
cumbersome mess too. Heck, that is a contributing factor to these
blogs. At least I have a means of finding the information later.
Forums aren't laid out in chronological order either. Threads overlap
and there is no way to find highlights of what happened on any particular
day. That contributes heavily to online problems. It's really
unfortunate. The big picture is lost in that format. Oh well.
That's why blogs exists. They compliment the forums. Anywho,
here's what I shared about the heater: The new "active grille shutter" is a nice improvement for getting the
most of the heat available. Some owners have been doing that blocking
themselves for years for heat-retention and reducing the amount of air
blowing through under the hood. Now, it's a standard feature. The
"vapor-injected heat-pump" is an obvious improvement too. It's the best in
the industry for electric heating in terms of efficiency. That's a nice
advantage other plug-in vehicles can't compete with, using just regular
heat-pumps or resistance-heating.

12-10-2016

Bolt Surprises. Finding out the advertised 90-mile
recharge in 30 minutes only applies to 80 kW connections sure caused a stir
today. The high-power DC rechargers currently top out at 50 kW. That
resulting speed limitation primarily comes from pricing. To deliver
faster, the customer must be willing to pay for the next higher tier for
that electricity. It's expensive too, a major deterrent. To
complicate matters, the home setup for fast charging requires as 32-amp
capacity. Those with level-2 chargers in their garage at home already are
likely using something with less power, which means longer recharge times.
Originally, there were a number of 16-amp choices. Those would be much
slower. Needless to say, there's much to cause confusion,
misunderstandings, and assumptions. To make this even worse, there are
a number of references in older articles about the recharging expectation
for Chevy Bolt to be "90 percent"
rather than "90 miles" in 30 minutes. It's too bad the Volt
enthusiasts squandered their time away worried about superiority. They
didn't bother taking the advice to educate. What a waste. Of
course, the knowledge was dangerous. It would have informed people of
shortcomings... as some are discovering now.

12-09-2016

Diesel News. There was quite a stir this week, when 4
major cities (outside the United States) announced a ban on diesel vehicles.
They want to prohibit their use in those cities by 2025. With so many
hybrid and plug-in choices entering the market, it makes no sense to depend
upon diesel anyway. It's expensive, barely meets minimum clean
requirements, and isn't anywhere near as efficient. Why bother is a
reasonable question to ask... which leads us to GM. They will be going
forward with the rollout of a diesel Cruze. Why? With a $24,670
base price for the manual transmission and an additional $2,000 for the
automatic, what's the point? How will potential buyers be enticed?
A hybrid version would offer better efficiency. A traditional version
would cost quite a bit less. Meanwhile, there's growing interest in
Prime coming from VW buyback people. The uncertain timing & complexity
of selling back their TDI to get the a plug-in hybrid is stirring new
discussion. The thought of going back to gas isn't appealing and many
were quite against regular hybrids in the past. We are most definitely
in a new chapter of automotive history now.

12-08-2016

Climate-Change Deniers. That's who our
president-elect has been seeking for certain key roles in the new
administration. Ugh. That's not good. Could you imagine
the heard of the EPA being someone who has a history of fighting
carbon-reduction efforts? That's exactly what appears to be happening.
We'll end up seeing investments in dirty industry with non-renewable
resources. How is that a good idea? You don't create jobs for
the future by spending lots of money on technology of the past. My
travel to Europe last year revealed how much more we could be doing with
solar & wind. Not being leaders in that regard is disappointing.
Finding out their likely won't be any effort to improve that situation is
really a let down. Thank goodness Toyota is offering a solution that
won't rely on heavy infrastructure improvements... because it certainly
looks like those in key power positions here won't be providing any support.

12-07-2016

Pacifica Details. The official EV rating was
released. It will be more than anticipated: 33 miles. That's
enough of an EV range to really mess up arguments. With so many
arbitrary "it needs as least 30" claims to undermine Prius, this
now appears as an endorsement. However, that's the only strong selling
point. Delivering 32 MPG following depletion is indeed impressive for
a minivan, but the $41,995 base price kills that. It's quite a bump up
from the $28,595 base for the traditional model. Minivans are a
difficult market. Ford & GM abandon it years ago. All the other
automakers, except Chrysler, have only a small showing. So, this is a
great opportunity. It's still a tough sell. The interior space is
great. Promoting it as a hybrid is rather odd though. Rumor is
that there will be an unveiling of an EV version in a few weeks though.
That helps to clarify the naming choice. It's boils down to knowing
audience. Who will they be trying to sell Pacifica to? How many
do they hope to sell? What else will they sell?

12-07-2016

Prime Test-Drive. I had great things to say about
this: "Saw my first prime today." It was on a new discussion
thread titled: "Prime in the wild". My excitement of having
something to share made that opportunity to good to resist. Absolutely
delighted, I posted:

That wasn't me... though, I was driving a Prime
wildly today. :)

I got a chance to meet with my salesperson and we
took the dealer's fleet model out for a spin.

It was a lot of fun. I
took advantage of the full battery-pack. With the heater on, I hit the
nearby highway. Whoa! The increase in EV power and the quieter interior
sure was nice. Prime's upgrade over the PHV model will certainly win over a
lot of fence-sitters. Those not interested in Prius sure are in for a
surprise from the one with a plug. The effortless electric-only driving
makes the sale simple.

For those who take a deeper dive into the
test-drive experience, find yourself a small roundabout. The one near my
dealer was really fun. I hit it hard too, thrilled about how much of an
improvement the gen-4 design brought about. The reduced body-roll, combined
with a lower center-of-gravity from the battery-pack, sure made that a key
experience. It will win over the naysayers. We ended up going back for a
second round. Once simply wasn't enough.

What I especially liked was
the wide-array of small improvements, like adding cupholders in the rear
doors and the folding-seat redesign. The view out of the dual-wave rear
window was astonishing... no distortion and increased visibility. What new
customers will like is Toyota's approach to simplifying the interface. The
intentional de-emphasis to details enthusiasts normally get hung up on are
presented in terms easy to understand & follow.

Game Changer. What a wonderful way to walk away from
the online battles with: "Can you say "game changer" ?"
Reading that was remarkable. It was the same old nonsense of the past,
the very thing the enthusiasts vowed not to repeat. What game?
Change how? It's so incredibly vague, there's almost no point in
responding. No one did either. The thread ended prematurely as a
result. They knew that was a pain wound that just got reopened.
It had been the battle cry for years. Volt would be a game-changer,
finally dethroning Prius as the green & efficiency sales leader. GM
fell well short of that, embarrassingly so. It's why constructive
discussion is so difficult now. Anything negative is feared as an
attack. Even with the insanely low lease offers, the enormous price
drop, and the generous tax-credits, sales were major struggle. The
quantity was low and GM customers simply weren't interested. Hope fell
upon conquest (stealing sales from other automakers) instead. That's a
terrible plan and the consequences are becoming apparent. So, we have
to ask what game and what change to expect now. If Bolt is to be the
Volt successor, what will be the criteria for success? Wasn't this all
about replacing dirty & wasteful with green & efficient? The
technology obviously works. Implementation has been a disaster though.
Great engineering spoiled by horrid management decisions. I
declared victory of my own, by asking a fundamental question I know to be
the true game changer: Competing directly with traditional
vehicles?

12-05-2016

Convincing Yourself. What do you think upon reading
this: "Then there's the problem with the supposed competition: other
plug-in hybrids. With Toyota, Hyundai, Chrysler, and Mitsubishi all rolling
out plug-in hybrids within the next 9 months." That's what I
posted 2 days ago, with the purpose of pointing out the rapidly growing
competition. After all, this particular antagonist absolutely refuses
to acknowledge the market as a whole, recognizing traditional vehicles as
the actual competition. Instead, he insists it is only other plug-in
vehicles. That puts his reply into perspective: "This is a GOOD
thing. It's called validation." He has worked so hard to
present Volt as the ultimate purchase, it's easy for him to just outright
dismiss other choices as unworthy. It's the blindness that comes from
the trophy-mentality. He simply doesn't see the problem. That's
why the "Who?" question never made any sense. He thinks the
requirements of an enthusiast apply to everyone. He doesn't understand
diversity. Wanting to pay less for less simply makes no sense.
He's convinced himself one-size-fits-all. It's why I'm about to move
on. The confrontations certainly have been educational for me.
Learning about why he made such fundamental mistakes was very informative.